Literary Speculation

I read Oryx and Crake for this week. While reading the story, I knew from a few paragraphs in that this was a science fiction novel. It takes place in a dystopian world, societies separated and science experiments. There is also romance in the story, between Crake, Oryx and Jimmy. 

While following the characteristics of one genre, I think adding elements from other genres into the story can be a important thing. It's not necessary for all stories though since some work fine without different elements. My experience reading the text isn't affected though since many stories I have read do have different elements from many genres.